Stems cells in amniotic fluid may be option for brain and spinal cord treatments
A report this week raises the hopes of people searching for stem cell therapies for victims of brain injury, spinal cord injury and other ailments. Ethical concerns have curbed development of therapies using embryonic stem cells. However, according to the report published this week in Nature Bioitechnology, stem cells with therapeutic value can be harvested from amniotic fluid and placentas.
According to the report, the amniotic cells can mature into all of the major types of cells, dividing once every 36 hours yet never showing signs of aging and never becoming tumors -- even after living for more than two years in the lab. Researchers at Wake Forest and at Children's Hospital in Boston coaxed the cells to become brain cells and injected them into the skulls of mice with diseased brains, where new cells filled in diseased areas and appeared to make new connections with nearby healthy neurons. When coaxed to become bone cells and seeded onto a gelatin scaffold that was then implanted in a mouse, the cells calcified and turned into dense, healthy bone.
The study leader, Anthony Atala, director of the Institute for Regenerative Medicine at Wake Forest University School of Medicine, estimates that if 100,000 women donated their amniotic cells to a bank, that would provide enough cells of sufficient genetic diversity to provide immunologically compatible tissue for virtually the entire US popularion.
Meanwhile, pediatric surgeon Dario Fauza at Children's Hospital in Boston has been pursuing a parallel line of research, growing amniotic stem cells into cartilage and diaphragms to repair defects in newborn sheep. His goal, of course, is to be able to use amniotic stem cells to repair defects in newborn humans.
Whether any of this will become clinically available in time to help today's victims of brain and spinal cord injury, as well as other conditions, is an open question, but for those of us searching for hope for our loved ones, it is a matter of great interest.
The Shigley Law Firm represents plaintiffs in wrongful death and catastrophic injury cases statewide in Georgia, and in other states subject to the multijurisdictional practice and pro hac vice rules in each state. Ken Shigley was designated as a "SuperLawyer" in Atlanta Magazine and one of the "Legal Elite" in Georgia Trend Magazine. He is a Certified Civil Trial Advocate of the National Board of Trial Advocacy, Chair of the Southeastern Motor Carrier Liability Institute and former chair of the Georgia Insurance Law Institute. He particularly focuses on cases arising from truck wrecks and accidents (tractor trailers truck wrecks, semi truck wrecks,18 wheeler truck wrecks, big rig truck wrecks, log truck wrecks, dump truck wrecks.
